Water leakage, water overflow, and floodwater conditions about a building structure can cause significant property damage. For example, such water leakage can ruin carpets, ruin the finish on hardwood floors, cause wallpaper and/or paint on walls to peel, ruin the upholstery and/or finish on fine furniture, short-circuit and thereby ruin expensive electrical appliances, ruin valuable antiques and/or artwork, contaminate food and/or water supplies, and even compromise the structural integrity of a building structure. The prospect of such damage dictates the need for a device that effectively detects the presence of undesired leakage water and immediately thereafter alerts someone who is about the building structure so that the condition can be quickly and appropriately remedied.
Given that water leakage, water overflow, and floodwater conditions are prone to occur, for example, proximate to sinks, water heaters, washing machines, toilets, plumbing, roofs, dishwashers, bathtub and/or shower areas, air conditioning systems, or other water-related appliances, as well as in basement or crawl space areas, a water detection and warning device should therefore be compatible with and installable in any of such areas. Furthermore, given that most building structures have multiple chambers and/or floor levels, the proposed water detection and warning device should also include an alarm indicator system that can be flexibly located and positioned to effectively alert one or more persons in various building chambers and/or on various floors that are both local and remote with respect to the particular building chamber and/or floor where the water is detected. In this way, for example, if the water detection system of the proposed device detects water in a chamber that is less frequented by persons than are other chambers about the building structure, then at least part of the alarm indicator system of the proposed device can be strategically placed in one or more remote chambers that are more often frequented to better ensure that a person is notified and warned of the water leakage condition.
Furthermore, any proposed water detection and warning device having such an alarm indicator system, as described hereinabove, should also ideally have the capability for selectively enabling and disabling individual portions of the alarm indicator system in the one or more various chambers and/or on the one or more various floors about the building structure. In this way, for example, a person operating the device can flexibly choose to enable only those portions of the alarm indicator system which correspond to areas about the building structure in which the operator anticipates there being a person present to appropriately respond to any alarm. In light of such capability, however, it is also desirable that such a device includes at least one automatic alarm indicator that cannot be selectively disabled and that will always be activated when leakage water is detected. Such an automatic alarm indicator ensures that at least one alarm indicator will be activated during a leakage condition, even when the operating person selectively disables all other portions of the alarm indicator system about the building structure.
Given that many building structures have at least one doorbell system and/or at least one burglar alarm system, a water detection and warning device should at least be compatible with such existing systems and should also, ideally, have the capability of being integrated with such systems. In this way, for example, the doorbell chimes in a traditional doorbell system located within a particular chamber of a building structure could serve the dual role of both functioning as a traditional doorbell and also functioning as an alarm indicator signifying a water leakage condition. Such system integration serves to conserve space within the chamber and also preserve the overall aesthetic appearance of the chamber.
In addition to the above considerations, a water detection and warning device should ideally include various types of alarm indicators to ensure successfully alerting persons who are visually or hearing impaired, as well as alerting a person who may be sleeping.
Furthermore, a water detection and warning device should ideally include a power circuit system that has backup battery capability. Such backup battery capability is ideal for ensuring proper operation of the device during power outage situations within a building structure. The device should also ideally include a power status indicator so that a person can easily discern whether the water detection and warning device has electrical power to function properly.
Lastly, a water detection and warning device should ideally include self-testing capability so that the device can be functionally tested even in the absence of an actual water leakage and/or floodwater condition. Such self-testing capability and the periodic execution of self tests together help ensure that the device will perform properly when a water leakage and/or a floodwater condition actually occurs.
At the present time, many of the water detection and warning devices which are currently available in the marketplace have addressed and incorporated to some degree one or some of the above-mentioned considerations and features in their respective designs. However, no currently available device addresses and incorporates all such considerations and features together in a single, functionally-efficient design as does the presently proposed invention set forth and described hereinbelow.